City Council - Regular Meeting

I mean, I don't, you know, are we at three?

We're not at three months. No, like two.

You're still on your honeymoon.

I know. I'm riding this honeymoon as long as I can. Okay.

All the meeting to order.

And Mr. Spiller, Mr. Spiller, if you'll just stand right there, just stay right there. We're going to do the Pledge of Allegiance and then we're going to have a presentation. So would everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

And continue standing while we do roll call.

Mayor Gibbons?

Here.

Councilmember Arnold is absent. Councilmember Burkett? Here. Councilmember Dexedek is absent. Councilmember Lavender? Here. Councilmember McLean is absent. Councilmember Schaefer?

Here. Very good. Thank you.

This is a really fun night. I get to make a presentation for Mr. He turned 103 years old. So I have a proclamation and he has done some pretty remarkable things in his life. We're so proud that you are a member of our community. Whereas Edward Spiller Sr. has called Kirkwood home for more than 70 years and has long been a valued member of the community, and whereas Edward proudly served the United States Navy during World War II for one year, eight months, and five days, as a Stuart's Mate First Class earning the Asiatic Pacific Victory Award while stationed in Guam and Pearl Harbor. Whereas Edward's military service and lifelong patriotism were further recognized through his participation in the Honor Flight Program, allowing him to visit Washington, D.C. for his service. And whereas Edward dedicated over 60 years of service to the Kirkwood Public Library. He became well known for his kindness and friendship he built with countless residents. And whereas Edward has generously shared the fruits of his gardening with neighbors and friends throughout the community, trusting his spirit of generosity and service. Whereas Edward has been a generous, has been a lifelong member and deacon of Unity Baptist Church. a church recognized as a Kirkwood historical landmark. And this is the one that's on Taylor, right across from the Aria, right next to the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center. um and whereas the city of kirkwood honored edward by installing a commemorative street sign recognizing his lifelong residency along south taylor avenue and monroe avenue to woodbine avenue that's state's honorary and spiller way and i know he would like that you'd stay up so And whereas Edward Spiller celebrated his 103rd birthday on July 9th, surrounded by family, friends, fellow Honor Flight participants, and fellow World War II Navy veterans, now therefore i elizabeth w gibbons mayor of the city of kirkwood on behalf of the kirkwood city council do hereby congratulate edward stiller on the occasion of his 103rd birthday and in recognition of his extraordinary military service lifelong dedication to kirkwood community and lasting legacy of kindness and generosity and do hereby proclaim July 9th, 2026 as Edwards-Biller Senior Day in the City of Kirkwood.

That'd be great.

Would the family members come up and be here with him as well so that we can get a picture with him and the proclamation? Oh, Ed, yeah, Ed. Ed Junior, you gotta be in here.

Yeah, being next to this old man.

Oh, these are his children. All of his children.

And I met with Junior. My wife. Thank you to everyone. Good way to start, that's for sure. Well deserved. No.

Okay, we are now going to move into public hearings. At this time, the council will recess to conduct a public hearing regarding a request for a special use permit for outdoor dining and occasional live entertainment by Ivy on Monroe for the property at 132 East Monroe Avenue, Suite A. Ms. Mullins, who do you?

No. Nope, that's right. Lauren is going to go ahead.

Okay, but Sarah has to do exhibits first. Sorry. I wasn't used to Mullins.

Yes, Mayor. We'd like to introduce Exhibit 1, which is the affidavit of publication showing that the ad was placed in the St. Louis County Inn on July 22, 2026. Exhibit two, which is the affidavit of publication showing that the ad was placed in the legal ledger on July 22nd, 2026. Exhibit three, an affidavit of publication showing that the ad was placed in the Webster Kirkwood Times on July 24th, 2026. Exhibit four, a list of property owners to whom notice of public hearing was sent. And exhibit five, a viewer map showing the list of property owners to whom notice of the public hearing was sent. And exhibit six, a memorandum from city planner Lauren Hoare dated July 15th, 2026. Exhibit seven, the report of the planning and zoning commission meeting dated July 16th, 2026. And exhibit eight, the city of Kirkwood code of ordinances.

Very good. Thank you. And before I go on any further, I just want to introduce Sarah Mullins is our temporary attorney, city attorney, while our attorney is out on maternity leave. She had a beautiful little girl. And Sarah, thank you for being here. She works with us quite often on employment law.

Eons ago, I was the prosecutor for the city. Oh, okay. Glad to be back.

Glad you're here. Very glad you're here. Okay. And now, Darren, who will present this to the council?

Planner Lauren Herr will go ahead and present.

Thank you. I'll be giving a brief overview of the special use permit request for outdoor dining for the Ivy at Monroe. I'll be happy to answer any questions at the end of my presentation. And the owner of the Ivy on Monroe, excuse me, the Ivy at Monroe, Julie Blackerby, is also here and available for questions. So to orient yourself, this is on the ARIA site. This photo is from before construction. But to the north, you have East Monroe Avenue, some multifamily buildings. To the east, you have South Taylor Avenue and the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center. To the south, you have Green Tree Community Church. And to the west, you have Kirkwood Glass and Kirkwood Road. And the site is approximately a half acre in size. And this is in the B2 Central Business District. The ARIA is going to be a five-story building. It's currently under construction. It'll have four stories of residential and one story of commercial space on the first floor and a parking structure located in the rear of the building. There will be 42 residential units and a little more than 5,000 square feet of commercial space. So in bold outline, you can see the Ivy at Monroe specific space. They have about 2500 square feet of indoor space and I've highlighted in blue the proposed outdoor dining area. They are proposing up to 50 seats in the outdoor dining area, and the operating hours for the restaurant and the proposed outdoor dining will be the same, and that will be as follows, Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. There will be a total of 45 employees, but they expect a max of 24 employees during peak shifts. In terms of landscaping, there are some natural buffers being proposed along the outdoor dining area. This image is from the ARIA's approved landscaping plans. The applicant is also requesting approval of outside entertainment in the form of permanent speakers for recorded music and one temporary speaker for live music. A few things of note that came up during the planning and zoning commission that I'd like to highlight. During their meeting is that the because there are condominiums above the outdoor entertainment would also be subject to any rules that they implement or impose. So that was brought up during the planning and zoning commission. And then the outdoor entertainment hours are different than the outdoor dining hours. So on Monday through Saturday, they will end at 9 p.m. And on Sunday, they will end at 8 p.m. The Planning and Zoning Commission, by a vote of nine to zero at the July 15th meeting, they did recommend approval of the special use permit. And for some context, I've also provided some other nearby restaurants outdoor entertainment rules. Billy G's was a special use permit approved in 2002. And it allows live or recorded music on the patio and deck area with certain hours and restrictions. The Four Hands Brewery was in 2021. and it was phrased as outdoor entertainment both live and recorded cafe napoli is outdoor entertainment in the form of speakers and the way that the language is proposed in this memo is permanent speakers for recorded music and one temporary speaker for live music I've included the review criteria for you here. I'm happy to answer any questions. And then Julie Blackerby, the owner, is here as well.

Would Julie like to say anything?

Good evening. I'm not Julie. She's much better looking than I am. My name is Tyler Stevens. Corten Architecture, I'm here on behalf of everyone. I want Julie to talk to you all, but I just want, since this is a new council from when we got this project approved in the very beginning, I just want to give a little backdrop. If you go back to the site plan page that you had there, this plaza up here in the corner, the whole building was really designed as a response to the Performing Arts Center across the street. And the plaza is specifically set up there to link to the plaza that is the entrance to the Performing Arts Center. We're even using the same concrete finish and color materials so that visually it all ties together. And the idea was at the time I kind of presented this as a new arts district for Kirkwood. I think that has that real potential. And we specifically wanted a fantastic restaurant to be on this plaza. so that people could come here, dine, have dinner, and then walk across the street to a show. It's all kind of tied together. So that's what this is all about. I just wanted to set that backdrop for you. Now, have Julie come up and explain the specifics of what she'd like to do, unless you have a question.

Isn't the lighting the same as well?

The street lighting, yes, is part of a Kirkwood pattern. that's all along there. It's the special lighting that you put in front of the Performing Arts Center. So all of it is visually intended to tie across. You have this new raised intersection that was put in there, which I know the city is very proud of. Jonathan has mentioned it several times. It'd be nice even if the patterning, the walk patterning that was painted on there was stretched and extended to include these plazas. as all part of one thing, basically. Julie, would you like to come up, please?

Good evening, Mayor, council members, and community. Thanks so much for having me here tonight. I did prepare a few things that I wanted to discuss just so that I could really try to help everyone understand the vibe that we're going for. So first of all, let me introduce myself. I'm Julie Blackerby and I'm the owner of Ivy Cafe and Ivy on Monroe. I want to make clear that our goal is not and has never been to be a loud entertainment venue. Our vision is to create a beautiful outdoor dining space where the experience compliments downtown Kirkwood, the performing arts theater, and just adds to the experience of the diner. When we talk about music, we're talking about occasional low volume performances, such as a single musician, perhaps a saxophonist, a violinist, an acoustic guitarist, or a similar instrumental performer. We are not talking about a band, even a two-piece band, a three-piece band. We are not looking to project music throughout the city of Kirkwood. It's more background music while people dine. we feel strongly that this vision does align really well with downtown Kirkwood and in particular with the Performing Arts Theater. I want to state that we are extremely committed to being good neighbors. So if there is feedback, a complaint, we will address it appropriately and promptly. For those who have not dined at Ivy and Clayton, we've been operating for four years and we've built our reputation on being very tasteful being very classy, serving high quality food and drink. And in my opinion, it's unlike anything that Kirkwood has now. So I don't feel that we can necessarily compare it to any of the outdoor dining permits that currently exist. And of course, I know that there is concern with them. And I, as a Kirkwood resident, can understand if I were living close to that. But that is not what we are looking to do. So I'll leave it there and open it up for questions. Thank you for the consideration.

Julie, I just want to reiterate, I've been to Ivy Cafe and Clayton like four times just to know what's coming to Kirkwood. And it is so different than anything we have here. It's really going to be a compliment to Kirkwood. You are a Kirkwood resident, and we have a lot of Kirkwood residents that are doing fabulous things here in Kirkwood. Fox's Fine has just opened up, and the commitment of our community to give back and be part of the community is very important, and I think that Ivy on Monroe will be able to do that for us. Thank you. Are there any other comments?

Julie, thank you. Having been at your restaurant numerous times in Clayton and knowing you, when I read this, I was very concerned just from what you typically are presenting and the fact that this would have residents right above from where they're playing. And so I would say that was probably my major concern of making sure that we aren't creating an atmosphere where residents are literally not able to eat a meal or have a conversation yeah and so i think um that would my concern i i would be curious like do you have a decibel level is there something you're going to put in place with your management because you can't be there all the time do you have kind of a thought about your standard operating procedure of how you're going to operate that

Well, I'll tell you, the way that we currently operate, which I do intend to operate very similarly, is that before 11 a.m., we only play either acoustical music or jazz music and at a low level for outdoor dining during that time. So I would say before 11 a.m. The idea is either similar or to have birds chirping through the speakers. Our vibe is very much quiet. And so even at night, we play a lot of acoustical music or think of it like cafe vibe. But I think even leaning more into jazz music and being able to bring in those instrumentalists to come and give such a neat experience, I think there's nothing that really... makes you feel so great as being around an instrumentalist playing a violin next to your table while you're having dinner. So in terms of how to regulate it, you know, everything now is easily lockable and accessible through technology and over the phone. And we have top of the line technology with not only the speakers, but the amplifiers and all of that. So making sure that we have limits on that, but also I would just never allow that. So, you know, if there was a time a staff member tried to crank up the music, it would be the last time. I mean, they wouldn't have a job there anymore. But we have never had that experience or that problem. And I know we won't hear either.

So thank you for addressing that.

I appreciate it.

Any other questions or? We might just mention, too, that the owner of the building that's building it, Mark Melman, is here. Is there anything that you want to add, Mark?

Well, Julie's a special person. She's a great restaurateur. I'm Mark Melman, by the way. She's a great restaurateur, but she's a better person, and I think you got a little bit of that right now. So when we were looking at restaurants or the space, there were a lot of opportunities. But quite honestly, the very first time I met Julie and I went to her restaurant, I fell in love and it was just the vibe and everything that we wanted it had the three kind of breakfast concept, it had a lunch concept and a dinner. And there you know it's just all perfect for what we have at the building the residents are in love as well with ivy. We will have certainly be in control of the noise if it does get loud that's not what the residents are going to want. So we'll have the ability with our indentures and everything to be sure it's compatible with everybody that's living there. And again, if you haven't been to Ivy, treat yourself and go there. It's just unbelievable. So I encourage everybody to check it out and that'd be a great addition to Kirkwood. Thank you.

Thank you, Mark. Any other questions or? We'll move to public comments. Jessica, has anyone filled out a form to make a comment tonight?

Yes, Mayor and Council, we have one from Fonda Fantroy Richards.

Hi, my name is Fonda Fantroy Richards, and I live at 123 East Monroe, directly across from your restaurant. it probably is going to be a wonderful restaurant. I'm going to be over there for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But 12-4, 12-11, 1-8, 2-6, 5-7, 5-21, 6-4, 7-2. What do those dates have in common? Some of you were at all of them. Some of you were at only half of them. And that's only... Eight months. You've been talking about something for two years. And at each of those dates I gave you, there was a discussion of your noise ordinance. I have had, if you stood outside while you guys were in private council, guess what I could hear? Billy G's. You talked the other day about an app. Obviously it's not working today because you could hear it all the way over here tonight. I am aware that Ivy is asking for approval for the city council for outside live or piped in music. I want to believe you. I really do. But this council has not given me the ability to believe you because you haven't enforced it. You have a city ordinance on noise. and you don't enforce it. Until the council puts in an enforceable ordinance, instead of just talking about it, I can't approve it. You got the tools. You got the people. But you just do not enforce it. So I totally am against any music over there. Thank you.

Absolutely. Actually, if she just comes to the podium and state your name.

Come to the podium and state your name.

Name and address? Yeah.

I'm here now for two reasons. My name is Julie Sells. I live at 840 North Kirkwood Road. I am here on the historic preservation of Kirkwood, but I'm also a huge fan of Ivy Cafe. I have a cool story about it. I went there for the first time a couple of years ago. Took a client. We had lunch. We decided to go there three more times. Now every time we meet, we go to Ivy Cafe in Clayton. Then my son, who went to Kirkwood High School, now goes to KU. Easy on you Mizzou people. I went to Mizzou too. It's okay. He took his girlfriend, where do I want to go for brunch? I said, take her to Ivy Cafe in Clayton. If you want to dazzle her, you know, she's from Kansas City. So it's farm to table. The food is amazing. The service is even better. And my cool story about it is the third time I went there, I was sitting with my client and I said, I looked at the waitress and I said, God, I wish you could open one of these in Kirkwood. And she looked at me and she goes, we are. And I said, no way. And I think it's amazing. And I will tell you something else. Respectfully, I mean, I get it. Friday and Saturday night, I mean, we want a little bit of vibrancy in our downtown. And when you live downtown, there's a little bit of noise. We already have concerts down there. I think, you know, Billy G's is Billy G's. It's got its own vibe. And then Four Hands has been an excellent addition. So respectfully, I get it. I don't live right there. If I did, though, I know that that's kind of part of the the downtown thing. So I'm all about live music and I don't think she's gonna bring in bangers or heavy metal. So I'm a supporter. Thank you.

There are no more comments.

Hearing no further discussion, this public hearing is now closed. The bill will be on the August 20th agenda for first reading consideration. On this particular topic? Okay.

Cheryl?

Hello, members of the council. My name is Lori Beth Sherrill. My husband and I live at 223 South Taylor, right on the corner. So we will be heavily impacted by whatever is done at Ivy Cafe. We're very excited about the position of the cafe. We moved to Kirkwood for the walkability and for the restaurants and for the vibe. My husband goes to bed very early, 8.30, and he gets up at 4.30. So we just want to make sure that a friendly relationship is established and that communication is happening between the residents and the business. And so we welcome this, but we do want to make sure that there is an opportunity to address it if it becomes an issue in the future. The fact that it is serving breakfast at 7 o'clock on a Sunday morning with music, I mean, maybe we would like to sleep in and not have music at that time. But again, if it's tasteful and respectful and not too loud, we don't have a major issue with it. But I just want to make sure that there's a good channel for communication with Rosamond's. Okay? That's all I have to say. Okay?

Thank you for coming, and maybe you guys can exchange information. Okay, any further comments? So again, this will be on the agenda for the August 20th Council meeting. Now we are going to be recessing once again to conduct a public hearing, a request for a special use permit for an indoor amusement facility arcade at the property located at 118 North Kirkwood Road. Ms. Mullins, do you wish to enter any exhibits into the record?

Yes, Mayor. Exhibit 1 is an affidavit of publication showing that the ad was placed in the St. Louis County Inn on July 22, 2026. Exhibit 2 is an affidavit of publication showing that the ad was placed in the legal ledger on July 22, 2026. Exhibit 3 is an affidavit of publication showing that the ad was placed in the Webster Kirkwood Times on July 24th, 2026. Exhibit 4 is a list of property owners to whom notice of the public hearing was sent. Exhibit 5 is a viewer map showing the list of property owners to whom notice of the public hearing was sent. Exhibit 6 is the report of the Planning and Zoning Commission subcommittee meeting dated July 15, 2026. And Exhibit 7 is the report of the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting dated July 16, 2026. And Exhibit 8 is the City of Kirkwood Code of Ordinances.

very good thank you mr lamb who will present this issue to the city council planning and development services director jonathan rach will present the matter thank you mayor council so this is a request for a special use permit um at 118 north kirkwood road for an indoor entertainment facility as mentioned The property is located on the east side of the 100 block of Kirkwood Road. It's a multi-tenant building known historically as the Multac Building, which is currently under renovations with the facade. It is zoned B2, which is our central business district. and the use is requested for a family arcade, which falls under our amusement facility definition. That definition is a commercial establishment or place of business primarily engaged in the provision of indoor entertainment and recreation for participants. An amusement facility shall include but not be limited to arcades, bowling alleys, trampoline facilities, indoor go-karts, batting cages, mini golf, billiards and pool parlors. Obviously, what is being proposed here is just an arcade, but it fits under that broader definition. So it is a special use in our B2 district, hence why it's before you tonight for the special use permit. This is just a floor plan. The space is the southern portion or the lower portion of this floor plan. The space being proposed is just under 1,900 square feet and it's roughly half of the space that was formerly occupied by a rusted chandelier. The other half is being occupied by another tenant or being prepared to do so. The applicant is requesting operation Monday through Friday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. They indicated in their letter that the facility would be staffed by two employees onsite at all times, and all onsite managers will be at least 18 years of age. For the safety and supervision of guests, unaccompanied minors will not be permitted within the facility and no monetary prizes will be awarded in any games. They said they will have kind of prizes, toy prizes and things that children can win through the games.

So this is just a quick view of the rendering of the facade of the building. So you can recognize it.

I'm sure you do. so the item did go before the planning and zoning commission before coming here as they all do i talked about the hours of operation already the planning zoning commission agreed and included a condition that will be in the ordinance drafted for you that at least one supervising employee should be on the premises during all operating hours so they proposed that but we just wanted to memorialize it and require it in the ordinance as well so that it wouldn't just be an open arcade with no staff on site. The owner doesn't want that either. So they were fully agreeable to that. Also worth mentioning and discussing is that it's in accordance with our section about no monetary prizes. So no, well, that speaks for itself. They won't have those types of machines in the establishment. Also, well, After the discussion, the subcommittee ultimately concluded that the requirements of the special use permit met the criteria in Section 2520 and , which are here for your reference. The Commission did vote to approve this for recommendation by a vote of nine to zero. Just a couple of items of criteria. It's the same criteria you all look at every time. There's 14 total. They're not all applicable to every case, so I'll just point out a couple, but the proposed use will be harmonious with the existing or intended character of the general vicinity, and that such use will not change the essential character of the same area. and that was number seven and number eight on this slide the proposed use will not involve uses activities processes materials equipment and conditions of operation that will be detrimental to any person's property or the general welfare by reason of excessive production of traffic noise smoke fumes glare odors so just those are just a couple that uh you should all consider and the planning zoning commission did find that that met these criteria so I'm available for questions. The applicant himself, the owner, wasn't able to join us tonight, but I believe he sent a representative. There we go. Thank you.

Jonathan, I think you corrected, or when you first started speaking, you talked that they would have two employees on site. You then said one, and it's in the suggested ordinance.

Their proposal is to have two, and they intend to have two. We just wanted to make sure that they at least have one. I know that seems odd, but there are some places that, you know... might be open and have remote. We just wanted to make it very clear that we expect on-site one employee.

That's what I thought. I heard the differences. And, you know, life happens. They might have two scheduled and one can't make it. Right. And so this makes sure they have one, but then it doesn't force them to close if they do indeed only have one person that night. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor.

Has this entity operated in Kirkland previously?

So I'll answer and I can be corrected if I answer. But my understanding is they operated the arcade that was in Session Taco. They have a few other, they operate a few other in different restaurants around the region. I think this is the only standalone. No. Do you know if there's another? You can come on. Why don't you come up?

So in total, we have six arcades. It started out with like you just do it yourself and there was no employee needed. We opened one, the Streets of St. Charles, and that was our first one that is a standalone that isn't in a restaurant. It is conjoined with a restaurant, the old Session Taco restaurant. turned sober mesa down there um and so typically that's what we do i think the vibe works that we're next to a lot of restaurants in kirkwood because typically that's what families want is just a little quick entertainment after dinner um so this is our second standalone our st charles one we have one employee um and i think two would be great probably for the weekends i think one is fine There always has to be someone there, just given that there's kids and all that good stuff. But yeah, it works with one in St. Charles. I think it really just depends on the volume of people. It could be busier here. It could not. But we definitely intend to have one person at least at all times.

Big question. Will there be Pac-Man?

I think there might be. I haven't seen his final rendering of all this stuff, but most of our facilities do have World's Largest Pac-Man, where it's a screen. Council Member Schaefer?

No liquor in the establishment?

Yeah, no liquor.

Brought in?

No. No food or drink at all is going to be sold.

I want to make sure.

Yeah, definitely. Okay. additional what is the plan on a friday or saturday night when a group of 10 12 year olds pop in alone alone yeah um i mean our standard procedure now is that if you don't have a parent with you you're asked to leave um that's really it you know what i mean like you can't stay unaccompanied unaccompanied as a minor That's just our policy.

Your policy, and you guys have a training on how to handle that?

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, all of our employees at the Streets of St. Charles are very well-versed on that, and they've done a good job enforcing it politely so that, you know, nobody's mad, and it's not a negative experience for the customer. But it's just, yeah, if you're not 18, sorry. Sorry. do you allow outdoor food or drink coming in from other places like the bobo tea place down the street um that's a tough one i would say like ideally no okay obviously no alcohol brought in at all um but if like a kid's you know eating a snack or something we're not going to be like get out you know what i mean okay it's a different story when they're making a mess and Yeah, rambunctious children are dealt with as a needed basis. But yeah, we would say, yes, we'll have a sign on the door that says no food or drink. But yeah, just respectfully, if they can handle it, then it's okay.

One more, sorry. Pool tables, no pool tables.

No pool tables. All of it is, yeah, like modern arcades. We do a lot of the same things at most of our locations, and we just stick with what works. So super bikes, racing, biggest Pac-Man, Jurassic Park, stuff like that, the newer stuff.

Got it. Thank you.

Except for Pac-Man.

I'll make a note that we have to have that just for you. That's not exactly it.

Okay. Anybody else? No? All righty. Thank you very much. We'll now move into public comments. Have there been any?

There are no comments for this one.

Okay. Very good. This public session, public comment session will now be closed, or the public hearing. The bill will also be on the August 20th, 2026 agenda for first reading approval. Thank you.

That's the next part.

For general public comments, this was on just this public hearing alone.

If somebody has a comment on this particular item and wants to come to the podium, tell us your name. Call us your name and address.

Hi, I'm Patty McGown. I live at 1113 Whitecliff Drive, north of the high school. And I don't know if this is a good idea or a bad idea, but my thought would be the sidewalk in front of this location is not very wide and it's an extremely busy street. And if you have a crowd of teenagers, hanging around there. We go to Dewey's Pizza all the time. It's bad enough to get a parking spot, walk on the sidewalk, and if there's a crowd of kids, I don't know what the occupancy permit, or the number of people allowed in this location is at one time. Do you know? That, wouldn't it be?

That would be subject to the building code.

Sure. I wonder what it would be. Because if you have dozen kids hanging out on the sidewalk in front of that what is that a six eight foot wide sidewalk right next to limburg road kirkwood road would be my other parking there's parking so i don't want to be walking in the parking area of kirkwood road when i need to go to dinner or want to go to dinner because there's a crowd of kids out there i mean session taco makes a lot more sense for something then right on Kirkwood Road. It just sounds very dangerous to me. That's my thought. And I would be concerned with what the fire marshal says the number of people in that one place could be at one time. And the thought of 18-year-olds managing something like this is a little concerning. I think it should be an adult, not an 18-year-old. So that's my thoughts. Sure.

Just about the sidewalk situation. I feel like that's common in Kirkwood that there are a lot of kids outside on a sidewalk. On my way here, I saw 12 kids standing right next to hotbox cookies blocking the sidewalk. Um, I don't think you can really stop people from blocking the sidewalk. I will say that currently at the streets, there's also a small sidewalk and there is parking right next to it and people don't really linger. They move on and we haven't had that issue in a similar space to what we're proposing here. Um, obviously if there's an issue of like loitering, that's another thing to deal with. And, um, about the 18 year old staff legally an 18 year old is an adult legally they are an adult um we're not serving liquor so it's completely legal to have an 18 year old alone running that sort of business and our 18 year olds that run the business and when we say 18 it's minimum requirement 18 at our other location i have two 20 year olds working um that's just a thing we say they have to be 18 to be left alone. But they've been more than capable of handling teens, children, any issues. that have arised and we're honestly available 24 seven. We don't ever, I manage the business with Mike and I've been with the company for the entire time that it's existed and we've always been available for any sort of crazy emergency that would happen. We live 20 minutes away. Um, so just realistically I understand the, the fear and the concerns, but through, the five years that we've been doing this, I can speak from experience that these will not be problems that will cause major issues. Thank you.

All right, thank you. As I said, this is, we'll be closing this public hearing now and this bill will be on the August 20th, 2026 agenda for first reading consideration. Now we will move into public comments.

Public comments, three-minute limit per person. The public comments portion of the meeting is an opportunity for the city council to listen to comments from citizens. It is not a question and answer session, and the city council will not respond to comments or answer questions during this period. The mayor may refer any matter brought up to the city council to the chief administrative officer or city clerk if action is needed.

Thank you. Jessica, has anyone filled out? I think I heard some people did. Yes, Mayor. We have Barbara Richter.

Hello, my name is Barbara Richter, and I am a 55-year resident of Kirkwood. My husband and I have lived in three different homes in Kirkwood, starting typically with a starter home, a home we raised our kids in, and the home I live in today, which we downsized into. I'm committed to Kirkwood remaining a diverse city where young people can start out in a small home and elderly people can downsize and remain in Kirkwood. Three of my children live in Kirkwood and I want my grandchildren to be able to live in Kirkwood if they choose to. In order to increase housing options in Kirkwood, we have the option to build ADUs, accessory dwelling units, which can be added to existing by property owners. I encourage you to expand the ADU options by lowering the lot size from 15,000 to 10,000 square feet. We desperately need affordable housing in Kirkwood, and this is a cost-effective and good use of existing land and housing. We need to be creative and expand our housing options or we are going to become an entirely upper-income community, and then I won't want to live here.

Thank you, Barbara.

Linda Vonderbrugge?

Thank you.

I'm Linda Vonderbrugge, and I've lived in Sugar Creek Valley for 51 years. I wasn't born here, so I'm not blood, but we feel a real special place in our hearts. I think you said I was supposed to ask a question, but I have three, or maybe they're comments. Okay. Well, number one is I am going to be asking two other questions, and I want to know how I'm responded to. In other words, is it by text? Does someone answer me? I would just like answers to my questions once they're asked. Number two is I'm very curious about how and who vets are the developers in our community. I know personally a young man who develops property, lives in Kirkwood, and I think I read somewhere that the development over here on Taylor, the large one, The developer was from Dallas. I don't know that that's a real fact, but I think I heard that somewhere. So I'm just curious as to how a developer is vetted. Does the council do it? Does the administrator? I don't know who, and I'm curious. And my third question is, are you addressing the A1... data centers, is there property available here? Is somebody asking to build a data center in Kirkwood? Is it possible? Is it a zoning thing? I have no idea. I'm just curious and I feel like we need to be ready. Thank you.

Thank you, Linda.

Julie Sells.

Hello again. I am Julie Sells. Again, I live at 840 North Kirkwood. I live a couple blocks from your favorite and my favorite thing to talk about, 751 North Taylor, which is why I'm here to talk about Kirkwood Preservation. When I look at Edward, I think about how cool it is and so many people that have come up to speak that are multigenerational here, that the reason why people are attracted, I would think, why I was, I can only speak for myself, Why I was attracted to Kirkwood is the historical as well as the innovation coming together. But if we get rid of too much of one or too much of the other, we look like Everywhere USA. And I actually am a business owner. I was looking at property in Clayton and the developer said something to the effect of, well, you know, innovation happens. And Kirkwood isn't what it used to be anyway, so I don't know what you're all frazzled and jazzed about with that one house being taken down at 751 North Taylor. And I said, you know, that's upsetting to me that that is the perception that Kirkwood is tearing down everything and building new big huge houses with no regard. for the historical factor of some of these houses. I personally knew Mary. I walked by there multiple times a week. I know that she kept that house impeccable. I also didn't appreciate the builder talking about mold and how the house was dilapidated. I know that's all BS. I know that for a fact because she went down in her basement when she didn't have anything to do after her husband passed and put concrete in the cracks and she said it is dry as a bone in my basement, which by the way, at my house, it's 106. I cannot say that. It seeps. So I wish I had had her working on my basement. So as part of the preservation, and I've worked with Aaron and all the people that you'll hear on the regular basis up here, is that as you can see by all the signs as we continue to put them out, it is a big deal. The fact that there's nothing being built there, and I don't know this for a fact, but there's a rumor that he is going to sell that property, makes me, I think, more mad than I was before. Because now he tore down something that will never get back, and I believe it was one of the earliest houses in Kirkwood. And now he is going to decide that he is going to tuck his tail and leave Kirkwood. I think makes me even more angry because now we can never get it back. So the point of this conversation, other than me babbling and griping is that we need to have stronger teeth in our preservation. If somebody cannot come in and just knock a house down and Kirkwood goes, oops, well, we just didn't have the laws to do it. I understand it's challenging, but it should be tough and it should be voted on. And if somebody says buy somewhere else, there was plenty of property available that he could have purchased. That's all. Is that my timer?

Yes.

Oh, awesome. Thank you.

Perfect timing. Perfect timing. Yeah.

Thank you very much.

Are there any further comments?

Great.

We will now move to the consent agenda.

May I have a motion? So moved.

Second. Great. Thank you. Are there any questions or comments on the consent agenda? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. Consent agenda carries. We will now move to Bill 111133.

Mayor and Council, this is an ordinance readopting a procedure to disclose potential conflicts of interest and substantial interest for certain officials as set forth in Chapter 2, Article 1, Section 2-5 of the Kirkwood Code of Ordinances.

Thank you. Are there any questions or comments on Bill 11133?

Roll call, please. Mayor Givens? Yes. Council Member Burkett? Yes. Council Member Lavender? Yes. Council Member Schaefer?

Yes.

The bill passes. We'll move into new business, Bill 11134.

Mayor and Council, this is an ordinance changing the zoning from B4 planned commercial district to B2 central business district on the property known as 422 South Clay Avenue being an approximately .37 acre site on the east side of the South Clay Avenue and directing such change in the zoning district map.

Thank you. Do I have a motion and a second? Second. Thank you. Is there any comments or questions?

I just want to make sure that we all understand that the intent of this business property, it's been vacant for a long time, and there will be a teardown of the property there to rebuild. My understanding of this one.

yeah i appreciate the work that planning and zoning did site visit and really researched and thoroughly vetted this and appreciate all the work that our planning and zoning puts into these types of requests yeah yeah and and they are um have stated that they're going to make it fit into the neighborhood and i think that's thank you back there that's involved with it so

Okay. All in favor of the first reading approval, say aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. First reading approval carries. Bill 11135.

Mayor and Council, an ordinance amending various provisions of the Municipal Code of Ordinances, Chapter 25, Zoning and Subdivisions.

Thank you. May I have a motion and a second, please? Motion.

Second.

Thank you. Are there any questions or comments on this?

I would highlight the same, I sat in on the subcommittee on planning and zoning and they had a fine tooth comb and went through the changes that our staff had recommended and just thoroughly again vetted literally every change that was being made and talked it through and I just appreciate the work of our volunteers. And you are the liaison to planning and zoning. But as well as all of the work that the staff puts into looking and updating ordinances and keeping them in line with what's going on.

Okay, anything else? Okay, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. The bill carries for suiting approval. Resolution 79-2026.

Mayor and council, this is a resolution authorizing the renewal of a contract with Tyler Technologies for the city's enterprise resource planning ERP system in an amount not to exceed $331,983.79 for a term of 12 months and authorizing and directing the mayor to enter into a contract.

May I have a motion and a second to accept this bill, please? Motion.

Second.

Very good. Thank you. I'm going to be in favor of this bill. I wanted to thank Council Member Burkett. This is her area of expertise, and when I say expertise, I mean she's up here when it comes to and technology, and she's really dwelled into this strongly. Ever since the new ERP system was put in, we kept hearing that it's not working, it's not working, it's not working. A couple weeks ago, our new CAO told me that this software system is used by practically every city in the country, and my jaw was, oh. So it turns out we implemented this right at the end of COVID and getting it getting it implemented on our part was the hard thing. And Sheila, I'm going to ask you to just talk for a minute about about that.

Yeah, I appreciate the staff working with me and answering all my questions. And Kevin Camp specifically had a lot that he had to go through with me. One of the things that we delved into, we looked at what the original contract was versus what we're approving. And just to kind of give everyone a sense, this is a software as a service platform that we are using. This is not software sitting on any computers or servers in our domain. And so it covers our utility operations, permitting, inspections, community development, our citizen services and request tracking, public works, infrastructure, asset management, our core financial administration and audit governance, and our human resources and payroll. So this is the very large system that works together intentionally and a migration of this sort does require a lot of work, a lot of training. And one of the things that through this process I did research all the companies that we use. Tyler, as the mayor mentioned, is one of the top providers in this space. And we used KO Hills Consulting to help us do the data migration. And I could not find anything negative about them in all my research. And they were the ones responsible for helping us getting our data moved and migrated. We also had a third group involved, and it was a company called Barry Dunn. They're an accounting software consulting firm that provided all of the project management services to help us through this. And over a four-year period, we had multiple different changes of contacts and people. And I think anytime you have a delay in a project and new people have to come on, that makes it much harder to use. Training-wise, a typical process is like this. They use a train-the-trainer model, which is what we used. Each department had train-the-trainer. And therefore, they did have some training. I think the challenge is it was a lot of remote work was done. We also have full access currently and in the future with this for self-service learning. And I know a lot of people have talked about using user groups and contacts that they know. This renewal, while I am, I think, disappointed that we are at the last actually two months past the renewal date of this. that wish that we'd been able to have that conversation sooner. To not approve this would cause dramatic implications. It would create extreme budget constraints, force our staff into another multi-year migration to a different system, trigger widespread operational disruption across all of our systems, and could potentially prohibit us from making payroll. So while it's a lot of money, it is necessary in order for us to, in my opinion, operate the city. This is a 12-month contract, and I believe we've talked about what our opportunities are of how to fully get the return on investment that we've made in the system.

that's correct yes i mean thank you for your explanation i couldn't i don't think any of us could probably have explained it better than what council person briquette did um yes i mean this is evident that we need to go ahead and probably access more tools with regards to this get the training that we need um like you said i think the city did have some issues with turnover and key the finance department was was the is usually the key uh office that that first works with the software but obviously it branches out into the other ones community development all the ones that you mentioned so that's a goal that we're going to have this year is to go ahead and get more training for that, see if we can better manage what we have. And we also looked, I know Kevin has looked at with regards to the invoice that we had through Tyler, if there's some changes that we need to make, if we don't need as many. For example, I think there's a mobile access point. That was something that we were looking at changing to go ahead and modify. And we may go from 75 down to 35 approximately. So those are things that we're still going to go ahead and look at.

Any other comments? Okay. I would like to if he's not going to.

So research that I looked into is so much of the challenge that I think this city has had over the last couple of years. Financial data, information, things like that, seems to be training involved. I've reached out and talked to a couple of city administrators in our area that use this system, and I'm probably a little on the opposite side of the scale of Council Member Burkett, that I'm not IT-oriented. So the comment that really caught my ear was this is not user-friendly. It is not intuitive. But, and this one guy, especially he's an engineer and he's an accountant, he thinks it's fabulous. He gets historical data that he's never had before. He's able to manipulate data that he was never able to do before. They did get training. They have implemented it. It's all they use in the city. And so I do think it's just a matter of supporting our staff, training our staff, supporting them in their needs to be able to put this in place that I think it will produce all that we want it to be able to produce. So just from outside looking seems to be what some of the challenges were, and I think we can support our administrator and our staff to be able to better get up to speed with what this system provides for us.

Thank you. Any other comments? Roll call, please. Mayor Gibbons? Yes. Council Member Burkett?

Yes.

Council Member Lavender?

Yes.

Council Member Schaefer?

Yes.

The resolution passes. We'll now move into City Council reports. I just wanted to talk about a report that was out saying that Kirkwood's debt is $116 million. That is inaccurate. Kirkwood's debt is $68.5 million. That's a significant difference. One of the things that we're going to start doing is, well, we already do monitor all reports that are out, but anything that is incorrect, we are going to ask the entity that's put it out to retract it. We're going to send out press releases, and we will be mentioning it at our council meetings from now on. I think that the debt is, if you compare us to other cities in the state of Missouri that have their own utilities, Hannibal, Rolla, Lebanon, I can tell you a whole long list. Our debt is way far down from any of those other cities that have utilities like we do. And as most of you know, we just went through a $33 million upgrade of our infrastructure for our electric department. Our electric department is prepared well into the future now as far as delivering electricity to the citizens of Kirkwood. So I just wanted to make you aware that some things have been stated inaccurately and we will start correcting those. Are there other council reports? July was a slow month. No. Darren? Yes. Do you have a CAO report?

I do. Just a couple items I wanted to update. The request for proposals on the Forensic Audit for the Electric Department are due on August the 12th. According to procurement, several firms have viewed the RFP, so we've gotten a lot of interest from those firms. We will set up a selection committee to go ahead and review those, and I'll be reaching out to some of you for that. Second item is with David Wheeler and his resignation from the city as Assistant Chief Administrative Officer. That position has been advertised for already a week, and we currently have about 13 applications, but the position is open until the end of August. So, and we'll also, I'll be putting together a selection committee to go ahead and review those applicants as well.

Very good. Thank you. City Attorney Report.

No report. Just pleased to be able to join the city and the council for this meeting. Thank you.

Thank you. City Clerk report. Yes, Your Honor. I'm just going to report on a scheduled upcoming public hearings for August 20th, 2026. Excuse me. A request for a zoning map amendment of various properties to our five multifamily residential district as follows. 1000 North Crooked Road. B3 to R5, 110 East Maple Avenue, R4 to R5, 114 East Maple Avenue, R4 to R5, 115 East Sarah Avenue, R4 to R5, and 119 East Sarah Avenue, R4 to R5. Request for a zoning map amendment to R5 Multifamily Residential District for the property at 960 North Kirkwood Road, B3 to R5. and a request for a zoning map amendment of various properties to R5 Multifamily Residential District as follows. 1001 North Kirkwood Road, B3 to R5, 1015 North Kirkwood Road, B3 to R5, 102 West Maple Avenue, B3 to R5, 106 West Maple Avenue, B3 to R5, 119 West Sarah Avenue, R4 to R5, and 123 West Sarah Avenue, R4 to R5.

That's all I have. Good, thank you. Seeing no further business, our next regularly scheduled meeting will be Thursday, August 20th. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you.